System, method and article of manufacture for updating content stored on a portable storage medium

ABSTRACT

A system, method, and article of manufacture is provided for updating content stored on a portable storage medium. Some embodiments provide systems that include means for receiving a request from a content player from over a communication network requesting updated content for use with a portable storage medium being accessed by the content player, wherein the request comprises information from the content player, means for determining whether updated content associated with the portable storage medium is available, and means for initiating a communication over the communication network of updated content associated with the portable storage medium to the content player in response to determining that updated content is available.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/877,644, filed Jun. 25, 2004, now pending, which is a Continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/476,190, filed Jan. 3, 2000, nowU.S. Pat. No. 6,944,621, which is a Continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/296,098, filed Apr. 21, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No.6,453,420, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to portable storage mediums and moreparticularly to portable storage mediums with content that is updatedafter manufacture.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Optical disk storage technologies store information as a series ofmicroscopic pits and smooth areas arranged in tracks on a surface of anannular disk. The stored information is read from the disk by directinga focused laser beam along the tracks and detecting variations in theintensity of the laser beam as it reflects off of the microscopic pitsand smooth areas on the disk.

A digital versatile disk (DVD) is a type of optical storage medium thatis becoming more and more widely available. DVD's may be used to holdvideo, audio, and computer data. Currently, DVD formats include:DVD-Video for holding video programs, DVD-ROM for holding computer data,and DVD-Audio for holding audio tracks. Because of their versatility,DVD's may by used in a wide range of applications including homeentertainment, computers, and business information systems. Film,television, and music producers are increasingly turning to DVD's as amedium for offering movies, television episodes and music albums to thepublic.

DVD's are an optimal medium for presenting full-length movies. DVD's canproduce studio-like video quality and audio quality better than compactdisks (CD). DVD's are also more durable that videotape and do not sufferwear from use. Presently, a single DVD is able to store over eight hoursof high quality digital video information and is also able to storemultiple audio and subtitle tracks. DVD's also may store information forautomatic and seamless branching of video to permit viewing of multiplestory lines on a single disk. Additionally, DVD's may also store textinformation for providing movie credit information and biographicalinformation on the cast and crew. DVD's may also include menus and othergraphic interfaces for enhancing user enjoyment by aiding user access tovarious features provided on the disk.

However, in the past, movies and audio recordings stored on optical diskstorage media (including those on DVD) most commonly available toconsumers are offered in a fixed, read-only format. With such a format,as soon as the information is stored on a disk, the information is oftenquickly outdated because it is impossible to add additional informationarising after the time the original information was stored on the disk.Thus, producers are confronted with the problem of how to provide theirconsumers with current and up to date products with this format ofoptical disk storage media. This problem results in the current use offixed, read-only format disks having a very short shelf life beforebecoming outdated. As a result, producers are forced to periodicallyrecall older disks and reissue updated versions of their products on newdisks in order to offer current products to their consumers.

As an illustrative example, if filmographies of the actors in a moviestored on a disk are included on the disk, it is impossible to go backand update the information on the disk to include films in which theactors have acted subsequent to the creation of the disk. If the moviedisk is offered to consumers several months after the disk was made, theactors may have starred in other subsequent movies. As a result,consumers obtaining this disk would never be informed about thesesubsequent movies when viewing the filmographies stored on their disks.Thus, the producer offering the movie on these disks is forced to recallold disks of the movie and issue new disks of the movie with the actors'subsequent movies included in updated versions of the filmographies.

Another problem producers face with a fixed, read-only format is that itis impossible to correct errors once the product has been stored on adisk. For example, if text included with a movie stored on a read-onlyformatted disk has spelling errors, the disk must be destroyed and thecorrections to the text must be stored on a new disk. This process canbecome very expensive and may significantly hurt the profitabilityderived from the issuing of the particular movie on the disk.

An additional problem producers using the fixed, read-only format haveis that it is difficult to provide updates and corrections to consumersalready possessing the producer's product with this format. As anillustrative example, with a fixed, read-only format, a producer isunable to add additional menus and other graphic interfaces to the disksof existing owners without providing these owners with newly produceddisks that include the upgraded feature. In one option, the producer mayannounce a recall to owners of their existing products and offer a newlyproduced issue of the product as a replacement to these owners. However,this method is expensive, laborious, time consuming, and oftenineffectual because existing owners rarely want to make the effort toreturn their disks to the producer. Another option for a producer is tosend existing owners the newly produced disks without requiring thereturn of the old disks back to the producer. However, this optionallows the owners to pass on their old disks (which are still usable) toother consumers and thereby detrimentally reduce new consumer demand forthe producer's product.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a system, method, and article ofmanufacture for updating content stored on a portable storage medium.Upon input of a portable storage medium into a machine by a user, thecontent stored on the portable storage medium is read. After reading thecontent of the portable storage medium, a separate storage medium isaccessed and content is received therefrom. The content from theseparate storage medium is an update of the content of the portablestorage medium. This content of the separate storage medium is thendisplayed.

In one embodiment, the separate storage medium may be accessed uponreceipt of an indication of a user action effected by the user. In oneversion of this embodiment, such user action may be the selection of atleast a portion of the content stored in the portable storage medium ina menu or the like.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the content of theportable storage medium may additionally be compared with the content ofthe separate storage medium so that content of the separate storagemedium is received only if the content of the separate storage medium isan update of the content of the portable storage medium.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the separate storagemedium may be a remote server capable of being connected to the machinevia a wide area network, i.e., the Internet. In one version of thisembodiment, the content of the remote server is cached in a localstorage medium so that the cached content may be subsequently reused. Asan option, this version of this embodiment may also require that adetermination be made as to whether a connection exists between theremote server and the machine so that the cached content may be receivedfrom the local storage medium when the connection is determined to benonexistent. If a connection exists, the remote server may beautomatically accessed. In another version of this embodiment of thepresent invention, the content of the separate storage medium may bedisplayed using hyper-text mark-up language (HTML).

The present invention also includes embodiments where the portablestorage medium is an optical disk such as a laser centric disk, adigital versatile disk (DVD), a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM),a writeable compact disk (CD-W), and/or a rewriteable compact disk(CD-RW). Optionally, in these embodiments, the information may be storedon a burst cut area (BCA) of the particular optical disk or otherstorage area.

Also encompassed by the present invention is an embodiment where theupdated content of the separate storage medium that is received includescontent that is selected based on information such as an owner of thecontent, a profile of a user, a retailer of the portable storage medium,a distributor of the portable storage medium, a manufacturer of themachine, a date which the portable storage medium was manufactured,version of the content of the portable storage medium, and/or identifierof the portable storage medium. In this embodiment, the updated contentof the separate storage medium that is received may also optionallyinclude a menu.

The present invention enables easy updating of information stored onfixed, read-only format media. With the present invention, the shelflife of fixed, read-only format media is greatly extended. Older fixed,read-only format media no longer has to be replaced with newer media inorder to provide more current information to users or in order tocorrect errors in the information stored on the media. In anillustrative practical application, the present invention is especiallyuseful for updating advertisements included on fixed, read-only formatmedia so that new advertisements can be regularly directed to users ofthe media. In addition, the content can be specific to a user's profile.This facilitates tailoring of the advertisements in a manner specific tothe requirements and tastes of a particular user.

The present invention also permits the tailoring of the read-only mediato suit the needs and preferences of a user to help increase userenjoyment of the contents of the fixed, read-only format media.Additionally, the present invention also allows information on fixed,read-only format media to be time-released or periodically unlocked tohelp motivate a user to regularly use the media in order to access thenewly released material.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, aspects and advantages are betterunderstood from the following detailed description of embodiments of theinvention with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a method of the present inventionfor updating content stored on a portable storage medium;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram depicting an embodiment of the presentinvention designed for receiving updates over a network;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram that graphically illustrates the embodimentdepicted in FIG. 2 in use;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart demonstrating the display of specific informationfrom a DVD when no updated information is available in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart demonstrating the display of updated informationcached on a local storage device in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart demonstrating the display of updated informationfrom a remote server in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 7 is a detailed block diagram of an exemplary hardwareconfiguration in accordance with a one embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention includes a system, method, and article ofmanufacture for updating content stored on a portable storage medium.FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a method 100 for updating contentstored on a portable storage medium. In operation 102, content stored ona portable storage medium is read upon the portable storage medium beinginput into a machine by a user. A separate storage medium is accessed inoperation 104 after reading the content of the portable storage medium.Content which is an update of the content of the portable storage mediumis received from the separate storage medium in operation 106. Finally,in operation 108, the update of the content of the separate storagemedium is displayed. Some or all of the content stored on the portablestorage medium may also be displayed.

It should be noted that the portable storage medium may take the form ofany electronic/optic storage medium capable of storing content.Exemplary portable and separate storage mediums include locally orremotely accessible hard drives and floppy disks as well as any lasercentric disk including, but not limited to, a digital versatile disk(DVD), a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), a writeable compactdisk (CD-W), a rewriteable compact disk (CD-RW) or a MiniDisk (producedby Sony Corporation). In the present description, however, focus willremain on one embodiment of portable storage medium, a DVD.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the separate storage mediumis accessed upon receiving an indication of a user action, which iseffected by the user. The content of the portable storage medium may bedisplayed upon reading the content of the portable storage medium. Insuch case, the user action could include selection of at least a portionof the displayed content, i.e., a menu, of the portable storage medium.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the content of theportable storage medium and content of the separate storage medium arecompared, such as to determine whether the content of the separatestorage medium is an update of the content of the portable storagemedium. In one embodiment, the content of the separate storage medium isreceived only if such content is an update of the content of theportable storage medium.

The update of content of the separate storage medium that is received inoperation 106 of FIG. 1 may include content that is selected based oninformation such as an owner of the content, a profile of a user, aretailer of the portable storage medium, a distributor of the portablestorage medium, a manufacturer of the machine, a date which the portablestorage medium was manufactured, version of the content of the portablestorage medium, and/or identifier of the portable storage medium.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram depicting an embodiment of the presentinvention designed for receiving updates over a network. In thisembodiment, the separate storage medium is a remote server capable ofbeing connected to the machine via a wide area network, such as theInternet. In operation 200, content stored on a portable storage mediumis read upon input of the portable storage medium into a machine by auser. The remote server is accessed in operation 202 after reading thecontent of the portable storage medium. In operation 204, content fromthe remote server is cached in a local storage medium, such as a harddrive or RAM, where the cached content can be stored for immediate orlater reuse. Operation 205 indicates an operation similar to that ofoperation 200, but performed at a later time.

In decision 206, it is determined whether a connection exists betweenthe remote server and the machine. If it is determined in decision 206that a connection exists, the cached content is compared to the contenton the remote server in decision 208 to determine whether the cachedinformation contains the latest update. If it is determined that thecached information includes the latest update, the cached content isreceived from the local storage medium in operation 210. If it isdetermined that the cached information does not include the latestupdate, the latest version of the update is received from the remoteserver in operation 212. It should be noted that decision 208 can beexecuted by comparing the cached content with tat stored in the remoteserver. This procedure will be explained more fully hereinafter ingreater detail.

If it is determined in decision 206 that the connection is nonexistent,the cached content is received from the local storage medium inoperation 214. Finally, in operation 216, the update of the content ofthe separate storage medium is displayed. It should be kept in mind thata remote server may include a remote database. Optionally, the remoteserver may be automatically accessed if the connection exists. Alsooptionally, the content of the separate storage medium can be displayedusing hyper-text mark-up language (HTML).

Referring to decision 208, the determination of whether the data isupdated information can be determined referring to and comparing:

-   -   Version number—simple version number compare    -   Date—simple date compare    -   Personalization—based on user profile/ID, demographic, product    -   Distribution channel—based on retailer, manufacturer,        distributor, content owner    -   Seamlessly ties into other systems.        -   For example, an updated menu can be “sponsored” by a            retailer (which can be determined by utilizing the BCA)        -   Or a personalized audio stream can be downloaded based on            the consumer's profile.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram that graphically illustrates an example of theembodiment depicted in FIG. 2 in use. In operation (1) of FIG. 3, a DVD300 is inserted into the player 302. In operation (2), the user selectsTom Hanks 304 from Filmography DVD-Video menu 306. If there is noInternet connection and no local cached information, the DVD-Video Menu308, which is authored into the original DVD 300, is displayed inoperation (3). If local cached information 310 is available but noInternet connection is available, the local cached information 310 (inplace of or along with DVD Menu 308) is displayed in operation (4). Ifan Internet connection is present and updated information 312 isavailable on a remote server 314, the updated information 312 isdownloaded and cached into a local cache in operation (5). Also inoperation (5), the updated information 312 (in place of or along withthe DVD Menu 308) is displayed.

An exemplary embodiment utilizing a DVD attempts to always present auser with the latest information. Since the DVD is fixed (write-once),it is therefore immediately outdated upon manufacturing and shipment.Certain content on the DVD can be updated with more recent content fromeither the local storage medium or directly over the Internet. The valueof utilizing a local storage medium is that it does not necessarilyrequire the user to be physically connected to the Internet which cantie up a communication link such as a telephone line (which in the caseof international Internet usage may become very expensive if the user ischarged for the time spent on their Internet connection).

In this embodiment, content or digital assets can be downloaded or“pushed” from a remote location over the Internet and then storedlocally for future viewing. The present invention automatically “serves”up (displays to the consumer) the latest version of information. Thesoftware can automatically detect the state of the consumer's device:

-   -   If an Internet connection exists, the latest information can be        displayed over the Internet. During “free” Internet cycles, the        software of the present invention can be automatically        downloading (or caching) other updated information to the        consumer's local storage device.    -   If an Internet connection does not exists, the software can        serve-up/display the latest information present on the        consumer's local storage device (possibly downloaded from an        earlier connection to the Internet) if any exists. The logic        that determines which information to display is seamless and        transparent to the consumer.    -   Finally, if no updated information is available, then the        information on the DVD is used.

This embodiment of the present invention accomplishes this task byutilizing a distributed database/control structure having:

-   -   A first level database that is integrated onto physical media        (DVD)    -   A second level database that is stored on local storage device.        The second level database contains control structure for        determining when to display information from: (1) DVD, (2) from        assets stored on consumer's local storage device, or (3) from        the Internet. This second level database may be downloaded from        the server upon detected Internet connection.    -   A third level database which is the master database stored on a        remote server. This database can be thought of as the most        recent, up-to-date location of assets or control structure. It        also contains the latest control structure to be downloaded to        the consumer's local storage device.

FIGS. 4 through 6 illustrate exemplary scenarios for updatinginformation stored on a DVD in accordance with one of the aboveembodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart demonstrating the display of specific informationfrom a DVD when no updated information is available. Processingcommences at 400 when a user inserts a DVD into a player, and thedisplay operation is initiated by a user action as shown in functionblock 402. When the user selects a portion of the video to display at402, logic is initiated to interpret the user's selection as shown infunction block 404. The logic determines that an Internet connection isnot available and further determines that no updated information hasbeen downloaded or cached to the user's local storage as shown infunction block 406. Once the logic has determined that the informationcontained in the DVD-Video is the correct information to display, thelogic displays the DVD-Video selection as shown in function block 408.Finally, in operation 410, a transaction is posted to a local databasethat memorializes the events associated with the display operation 408.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart demonstrating the display of updated informationcached on a local storage device. Processing commences at 500 when auser inserts a DVD into a player, and the display operation is initiatedby a user action as shown in function block 502. When the user selects aportion of the video to display at 502, logic is initiated to interpretthe user's selection as shown in function block 504. The logicdetermines that an Internet connection is not available and that updatedinformation has been downloaded or cached to the user's local storage asshown in function block 506. Once the logic has determined that updatedinformation cached on the local storage device is the available fordisplay, the logic intercepts the DVD-Video selection and insteaddisplays the cached local information as shown in function block 508.Finally, in operation 510, a transaction is posted to a local databasethat memorializes the events associated with the display operation 508.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart demonstrating the display of updated informationfrom a remote server. Processing commences at 600 when a user inserts aDVD into a player, and the display operation is initiated by a useraction as shown in function block 602. When the user selects a portionof the video to display at 602, logic is initiated to interpret theuser's selection as shown in function block 604. The logic determinesthat an Internet connection is available, as shown function block 606,and a connection to a remote server is initiated. The server performs atable lookup to determine if there is updated information for display tothe user based on certain criteria (using version numbers, date, userID, retailer, etc.) as shown in function block 608. User information caninclude profile information that specifies a particular user'srequirements and tastes. Information such as the BCA number can be usedto determine appropriate content to transmit. Once the logic hasdetermined that updated information on the server is available fordisplay, the logic intercepts the DVD-Video selection and insteaddisplays the updated information from the server as shown in functionblock 610. If desired, the updated information can also be cached to thelocal storage device for future viewing (without requiring atime-intensive connection to the remote server) as shown in functionblock 612. Finally, in operation 614, a transaction is posted to a localdatabase that memorializes the events associated with the displayoperation 612.

An exemplary use of an embodiment of the present invention couldinclude, for example, automatically updating a menu in DVD-Video spacevia the Internet and displaying the updated menu to the consumer.Further, the menu could be tailored based on certain criteria, such asprofile, retailer, computer manufacturer, other.

Other exemplary DVD-Video selection/construct components that can beupdated include, but are not limited to, the chapter/part of title;title; angle (of camera); audio stream, and subpicture stream.

Methods of Obtaining Updated Information

Referring again to FIG. 1, the actual retrieval of the updated contentin operations 104 and 106 may be carried out in various ways. Forexample, the retrieved content may include only a small file containingindications of the differences between the content of the portablestorage medium and the updated content of the separate storage medium.If updated content or, in other words, a file must be delivered, theamount of data can be substantial. Large files typically are as large asten million characters (10 Megabytes) or larger. Distribution of suchlarge files over a medium such as the Internet can take an undesirablylong time from the point of view of the customer and can consume a largeamount of server resources from the point of view of the remote server.

One solution to the problem of distributing the updated content on largecomputer files is use of compression. A number of standard compressionalgorithms are in existence and are commonly used today. Thesealgorithms typically achieve compression of a large executable file downto between 40% to 60% of its original file size and can compress sometypes of text files even further, thereby reducing the transaction costsof shipping the file. However, for very large computer files orcollections of files, even a compressed file reduced to 40% stillrepresents a substantial transmission cost.

Another method useful for transmitting updated files is using atechnique known as a differencing program or comparator program tocompare an old file to a new revised file in order to determine how thefiles differ. One such file system is distributed as part of the GNUUNIX-like operating system through tools referred to as diff and patchand described in standard GNU documentation. The described systemdiscusses a way to use a differencing program to generate a patch file,and then using that patch file in combination with the old file togenerate a newly revised file. While the GNU revision system has someapplications within the UNIX-like operating system within which it wasdeveloped, it has not been generalizable in the new environment ofpersonal computer systems. The most commonly available versions of thesystem are limited to text files, and achieve only limited compression.These programs cannot effectively handle files where a number of fairlycomplex changes have occurred, such as a number of block moves or randomshuffling of text strings. These programs also do not produce thesmallest patch file possible.

In the alternative, a method and system may be employed for generating adifference file from an old file and a new file, where that differencefile indicates, in minimal number of bytes, changes between the old fileand the new file. Such system allows users to then transmit thedifference file to a computer system, and to use that difference fileand the old file along with a decoding process to generate a newlyrevised file. The difference file can also be stored locally, allowing anumber of versions of the same file to be saved without duplicatingredundant information. Ideally, the difference file would be thesmallest possible difference file, achieving compression density ofperhaps 10% or less of the original file, even with a moderate number ofchanges between the two files.

The present invention may thus comprise a software system with severalcomponents, a method, and a file structure for generating very efficientdifference files (sometimes abbreviated DIFF file) from an old file anda new file so that a difference file can be transmitted to a computersystem where the difference file and a duplicate of the old file canquickly be used to create a copy of the new file, duplicating the newfile as it existed on the separate storage medium. The difference filecould also be stored locally to the computer system, allowing the newfile to be duplicated from the old file without storing the new file.

Use of Burst Cut Area (BCA) to Tailor Updated Information

Initially, at the time of manufacture, content in the form of music,video, data, or any other type of visual or audible entertainment orinformation is generated and stored on the portable storage medium.Thereafter, a storage medium identifier, such as the Burst Cut Area(BCA) is incorporated onto the portable storage medium at the time ofmanufacture. It should be noted that the portable storage medium maytake the form of any electronic/optic storage medium capable of storingcontent. In the present description, however, focus will remain on oneembodiment of portable storage medium, a DVD.

Utilization of BCA Identification at the End Consumer

As mentioned earlier, when a final user obtains the portable storagemedium, the portable storage medium may be identified using the trackingidentifier on the portable storage medium. By this identification,various features may be executed upon identification of the portablestorage medium. It should be noted that, in one embodiment,identification is carried out by a computer and software governs thefeatures that are executed after identification of the portable storagemedium.

For example, the present invention may be practiced in the context of apersonal computer such as an IBM compatible personal computer, AppleMacintosh computer or UNIX based workstation. A representative hardwareenvironment is depicted in FIG. 7, which illustrates a typical hardwareconfiguration of a workstation in accordance with a preferred embodimenthaving a central processing unit 710, such as a microprocessor, and anumber of other units interconnected via a system bus 712. Theworkstation shown in FIG. 7 includes a Random Access Memory (RAM) 714,Read Only Memory (ROM) 716, an I/O adapter 718 for connecting peripheraldevices such as disk storage units 720 to the bus 712, a user interfaceadapter 722 for connecting a keyboard 724, a mouse 726, a speaker 728, amicrophone 732, and/or other user interface devices such as a touchscreen (not shown) to the bus 712, communication adapter 734 forconnecting the workstation to a communication network (e.g., a dataprocessing network) and a display adapter 736 for connecting the bus 712to a display device 738. The workstation typically has resident thereonan operating system such as the Microsoft Windows NT or Windows/95Operating System (OS), the IBM OS/2 operating system, the MAC OS, orUNIX operating system. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that thepresent invention may also be implemented on platforms and operatingsystems other than those mentioned, so for example, a Compact Disk (CD)or DVD can be utilized for storing content. In addition, a local cachecan be used to store information from the Internet or other source foruse in updating the CD or DVD content. So, for example if someone wasviewing Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, the local cache would be updated withinformation about Apollo 13 and Saving Private Ryan to prompt the userwith other Tom Hank selections. Moreover, if there is a new executablefor executing the content, it too would be downloaded to the local cachefor execution.

A preferred embodiment is written using JAVA, C, and the C++ languageand utilizes object oriented programming methodology. Object orientedprogramming (OOP) has become increasingly used to develop complexapplications. As OOP moves toward the mainstream of software design anddevelopment, various software solutions require adaptation to make useof the benefits of OOP. A need exists for these principles of OOP to beapplied to a messaging interface of an electronic messaging system suchthat a set of OOP classes and objects for the messaging interface can beprovided.

OOP is a process of developing computer software using objects,including the steps of analyzing the problem, designing the system, andconstructing the program. An object is a software package that containsboth data and a collection of related structures and procedures. Sinceit contains both data and a collection of structures and procedures, itcan be visualized as a self-sufficient component that does not requireother additional structures, procedures or data to perform its specifictask. OOP, therefore, views a computer program as a collection oflargely autonomous components, called objects, each of which isresponsible for a specific task. This concept of packaging data,structures, and procedures together in one component or module is calledencapsulation.

In general, OOP components are reusable software modules which presentan interface that conforms to an object model and which are accessed atrun-time through a component integration architecture. A componentintegration architecture is a set of architecture mechanisms which allowsoftware modules in different process spaces to utilize each other'scapabilities or functions. This is generally done by assuming a commoncomponent object model on which to build the architecture. It isworthwhile to differentiate between an object and a class of objects atthis point. An object is a single instance of the class of objects,which is often just called a class. A class of objects can be viewed asa blueprint, from which many objects can be formed.

OOP allows the programmer to create an object that is a part of anotherobject. For example, the object representing a piston engine is said tohave a composition-relationship with the object representing a piston.In reality, a piston engine comprises a piston, valves and many othercomponents; the fact that a piston is an element of a piston engine canbe logically and semantically represented in OOP by two objects.

OOP also allows creation of an object that “depends from” anotherobject. If there are two objects, one representing a piston engine andthe other representing a piston engine wherein the piston is made ofceramic, then the relationship between the two objects is not that ofcomposition. A ceramic piston engine does not make up a piston engine.Rather it is merely one kind of piston engine that has one morelimitation than the piston engine; its piston is made of ceramic. Inthis case, the object representing the ceramic piston engine is called aderived object, and it inherits all of the aspects of the objectrepresenting the piston engine and adds further limitation or detail toit. The object representing the ceramic piston engine “depends from” theobject representing the piston engine. The relationship between theseobjects is called inheritance.

When the object or class representing the ceramic piston engine inheritsall of the aspects of the objects representing the piston engine, itinherits the thermal characteristics of a standard piston defined in thepiston engine class. However, the ceramic piston engine object overridesthese ceramic specific thermal characteristics, which are typicallydifferent from those associated with a metal piston. It skips over theoriginal and uses new functions related to ceramic pistons. Differentkinds of piston engines have different characteristics, but may have thesame underlying functions associated with it (e.g., how many pistons inthe engine, ignition sequences, lubrication, etc.). To access each ofthese functions in any piston engine object, a programmer would call thesame functions with the same names, but each type of piston engine mayhave different/overriding implementations of functions behind the samename. This ability to hide different implementations of a functionbehind the same name is called polymorphism and it greatly simplifiescommunication among objects.

With the concepts of composition-relationship, encapsulation,inheritance and polymorphism, an object can represent just aboutanything in the real world. In fact, our logical perception of thereality is the only limit on determining the kinds of things that canbecome objects in object-oriented software. Some typical categories areas follows:

-   -   Objects can represent physical objects, such as automobiles in a        traffic-flow simulation, electrical components in a        circuit-design program, countries in an economics model, or        aircraft in an air-traffic-control system.    -   Objects can represent elements of the computer-user environment        such as windows, menus or graphics objects.    -   An object can represent an inventory, such as a personnel file        or a table of the latitudes and longitudes of cities.    -   An object can represent user-defined data types such as time,        angles, and complex numbers, or points on the plane.

With this enormous capability of an object to represent just about anylogically separable matters, OOP allows the software developer to designand implement a computer program that is a model of some aspects ofreality, whether that reality is a physical entity, a process, a system,or a composition of matter. Since the object can represent anything, thesoftware developer can create an object which can be used as a componentin a larger software project in the future.

If 90% of a new OOP software program consists of proven, existingcomponents made from preexisting reusable objects, then only theremaining 10% of the new software project has to be written and testedfrom scratch. Since 90% already came from an inventory of extensivelytested reusable objects, the potential domain from which an error couldoriginate is 10% of the program. As a result, OOP enables softwaredevelopers to build objects out of other, previously built objects.

This process closely resembles complex machinery being built out ofassemblies and sub-assemblies. OOP technology, therefore, makes softwareengineering more like hardware engineering in that software is builtfrom existing components, which are available to the developer asobjects. All this adds up to an improved quality of the software as wellas an increased speed of its development.

Programming languages are beginning to fully support the OOP principles,such as encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, andcomposition-relationship. With the advent of the C++ language, manycommercial software developers have embraced OOP. C++ is an OOP languagethat offers a fast, machine-executable code. Furthermore, C++ issuitable for both commercial-application and systems-programmingprojects. For now, C++ appears to be the most popular choice among manyOOP programmers, but there is a host of other OOP languages, such asSmalltalk, Common Lisp Object System (CLOS), and Eiffel. Additionally,OOP capabilities are being added to more traditional popular computerprogramming languages such as Pascal.

The benefits of object classes can be summarized, as follows:

-   -   Objects and their corresponding classes break down complex        programming problems into many smaller, simpler problems.    -   Encapsulation enforces data abstraction through the organization        of data into small, independent objects that can communicate        with each other. Encapsulation protects the data in an object        from accidental damage, but allows other objects to interact        with that data by calling the object's member functions and        structures.    -   Subclassing and inheritance make it possible to extend and        modify objects through deriving new kinds of objects from the        standard classes available in the system. Thus, new capabilities        are created without having to start from scratch.    -   Polymorphism and multiple inheritance make it possible for        different programmers to mix and match characteristics of many        different classes and create specialized objects that can still        work with related objects in predictable ways.    -   Class hierarchies and containment hierarchies provide a flexible        mechanism for modeling real-world objects and the relationships        among them.    -   Libraries of reusable classes are useful in many situations, but        they also have some limitations. For example:    -   Complexity. In a complex system, the class hierarchies for        related classes can become extremely confusing, with many dozens        or even hundreds of classes.    -   Flow of control. A program written with the aid of class        libraries is still responsible for the flow of control (i.e., it        must control the interactions among all the objects created from        a particular library). The programmer has to decide which        functions to call at what times for which kinds of objects.    -   Duplication of effort. Although class libraries allow        programmers to use and reuse many small pieces of code, each        programmer puts those pieces together in a different way. Two        different programmers can use the same set of class libraries to        write two programs that do exactly the same thing but whose        internal structure (i.e., design) may be quite different,        depending on hundreds of small decisions each programmer makes        along the way. Inevitably, similar pieces of code end up doing        similar things in slightly different ways and do not work as        well together as they should.

Class libraries are very flexible. As programs grow more complex, moreprogrammers are forced to reinvent basic solutions to basic problemsover and over again. A relatively new extension of the class libraryconcept is to have a framework of class libraries. This framework ismore complex and consists of significant collections of collaboratingclasses that capture both the small scale patterns and major mechanismsthat implement the common requirements and design in a specificapplication domain. They were first developed to free applicationprogrammers from the chores involved in displaying menus, windows,dialog boxes, and other standard user interface elements for personalcomputers.

Frameworks also represent a change in the way programmers think aboutthe interaction between the code they write and code written by others.In the early days of procedural programming, the programmer calledlibraries provided by the operating system to perform certain tasks, butbasically the program executed down the page from start to finish, andthe programmer was solely responsible for the flow of control. This wasappropriate for printing out paychecks, calculating a mathematicaltable, or solving other problems with a program that executed in justone way.

The development of graphical user interfaces began to turn thisprocedural programming arrangement inside out. These interfaces allowthe user, rather than program logic, to drive the program and decidewhen certain actions should be performed. Today, most personal computersoftware accomplishes this by means of an event loop which monitors themouse, keyboard, and other sources of external events and calls theappropriate parts of the programmer's code according to actions that theuser performs. The programmer no longer determines the order in whichevents occur. Instead, a program is divided into separate pieces thatare called at unpredictable times and in an unpredictable order. Byrelinquishing control in this way to users, the developer creates aprogram that is much easier to use. Nevertheless, individual pieces ofthe program written by the developer still call libraries provided bythe operating system to accomplish certain tasks, and the programmermust still determine the flow of control within each piece after it'scalled by the event loop. Application code still “sits on top of” thesystem.

Even event loop programs require programmers to write a lot of code thatshould not need to be written separately for every application. Theconcept of an application framework carries the event loop conceptfurther. Instead of dealing with all the nuts and bolts of constructingbasic menus, windows, and dialog boxes and then making these things allwork together, programmers using application frameworks start withworking application code and basic user interface elements in place.Subsequently, they build from there by replacing some of the genericcapabilities of the framework with the specific capabilities of theintended application.

Application frameworks reduce the total amount of code that a programmerhas to write from scratch. However, because the framework is really ageneric application that displays windows, supports copy and paste, andso on, the programmer can also relinquish control to a greater degreethan event loop programs permit. The framework code takes care of almostall event handling and flow of control, and the programmer's code iscalled only when the framework needs it (e.g., to create or manipulate aproprietary data structure).

A programmer writing a framework program not only relinquishes controlto the user (as is also true for event loop programs), but alsorelinquishes the detailed flow of control within the program to theframework. This approach allows the creation of more complex systemsthat work together in interesting ways, as opposed to isolated programs,having custom code, being created over and over again for similarproblems.

Thus, as is explained above, a framework basically is a collection ofcooperating classes that make up a reusable design solution for a givenproblem domain. It typically includes objects that provide defaultbehavior (e.g., for menus and windows), and programmers use it byinheriting some of that default behavior and overriding other behaviorso that the framework calls application code at the appropriate times.

There are three main differences between frameworks and class libraries:

-   -   Behavior versus protocol. Class libraries are essentially        collections of behaviors that you can call when you want those        individual behaviors in your program. A framework, on the other        hand, provides not only behavior but also the protocol or set of        rules that govern the ways in which behaviors can be combined,        including rules for what a programmer is supposed to provide        versus what the framework provides.    -   Call versus override. With a class library, the code the        programmer instantiates objects and calls their member        functions. It's possible to instantiate and call objects in the        same way with a framework (i.e., to treat the framework as a        class library), but to take full advantage of a framework's        reusable design, a programmer typically writes code that        overrides and is called by the framework. The framework manages        the flow of control among its objects. Writing a program        involves dividing responsibilities among the various pieces of        software that are called by the framework rather than specifying        how the different pieces should work together.    -   Implementation versus design. With class libraries, programmers        reuse only implementations, whereas with frameworks, they reuse        design. A framework embodies the way a family of related        programs or pieces of software work. It represents a generic        design solution that can be adapted to a variety of specific        problems in a given domain. For example, a single framework can        embody the way a user interface works, even though two different        user interfaces created with the same framework might solve        quite different interface problems.

Thus, through the development of frameworks for solutions to variousproblems and programming tasks, significant reductions in the design anddevelopment effort for software can be achieved. A preferred embodimentof the invention utilizes HyperText Markup Language (HTML) to implementdocuments on the Internet together with a general-purpose securecommunication protocol for a transport medium between the client and theNewco. HTTP or other protocols could be readily substituted for HTMLwithout undue experimentation. Information on these products isavailable in T. Berners-Lee, D. Connoly, “RFC 1866: Hypertext MarkupLanguage-2.0” (November 1995); and R. Fielding, H, Frystyk, T.Berners-Lee, J. Gettys and J. C. Mogul, “Hypertext TransferProtocol—HTTP/1.1: HTTP Working Group Internet Draft” (May 2, 1996).HTML is a simple data format used to create hypertext documents that areportable from one platform to another. HTML documents are SGML documentswith generic semantics that are appropriate for representing informationfrom a wide range of domains. HTML has been in use by the WorldWide Webglobal information initiative since 1990. HTML is an application of ISOStandard 8879; 1986 Information Processing Text and OfficeSystems—Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML).

To date, Web development tools have been limited in their ability tocreate dynamic Web applications that span from client to server andinteroperate with existing computing resources. Until recently, HTML hasbeen the dominant technology used in development of Web-based solutions.However, HTML has proven to be inadequate in the following areas:

-   -   Poor performance;    -   Restricted user interface capabilities;    -   Can only produce static Web pages;    -   Lack of interoperability with existing applications and data;        and    -   Inability to scale.

Sun Microsystem's Java language solves many of the client-side problemsby:

-   -   Improving performance on the client side;    -   Enabling the creation of dynamic, real-time Web applications;        and    -   Providing the ability to create a wide variety of user interface        components.

With Java, developers can create robust User Interface (UI) components.Custom “widgets” (e.g., real-time stock tickers, animated icons, etc.)can be created, and client-side performance is improved. Unlike HTML,Java supports the notion of client-side validation, offloadingappropriate processing onto the client for improved performance.Dynamic, real-time Web pages can be created. Using the above-mentionedcustom UI components, dynamic Web pages can also be created.

Sun's Java language has emerged as an industry-recognized language for“programming the Internet.” Sun defines Java as: “a simple,object-oriented, distributed, interpreted, robust, secure,architecture-neutral, portable, high-performance, multithreaded,dynamic, buzzword-compliant, general-purpose programming language. Javasupports programming for the Internet in the form ofplatform-independent Java applets.” Java applets are small, specializedapplications that comply with Sun's Java Application ProgrammingInterface (API) allowing developers to add “interactive content” to Webdocuments (e.g., simple animations, page adornments, basic games, etc.).Applets execute within a Java-compatible browser (e.g., NetscapeNavigator) by copying code from the server to client. From a languagestandpoint, Java's core feature set is based on C++. Sun's Javaliterature states that Java is basically, “C++ with extensions fromObjective C for more dynamic method resolution.”

Another technology that provides similar function to JAVA is provided byMicrosoft and ActiveX Technologies, to give developers and Web designerswherewithal to build dynamic content for the Internet and personalcomputers. ActiveX includes tools for developing animation, 3-D virtualreality, video and other multimedia content. The tools use Internetstandards, work on multiple platforms, and are being supported by over100 companies. The group's building blocks are called ActiveX Controls,small, fast components that enable developers to embed parts of softwarein hypertext markup language (HTML) pages. ActiveX Controls work with avariety of programming languages including Microsoft Visual C++, BorlandDelphi, Microsoft Visual Basic programming system and, in the future,Microsoft's development tool for Java, code named “Jakarta.” ActiveXTechnologies also includes ActiveX Server Framework, allowing developersto create server applications. One of ordinary skill in the art readilyrecognizes that ActiveX could be substituted for JAVA without undueexperimentation to practice the invention.

Alternate Embodiments

It should be noted that various permutations of serialization may beemployed including, but not limited to a watermark, hologram, and anyother type in substitution or combination with the BCA informationwithout diverging from the spirit of the claimed invention.

Watermarking

Digital video data can be copied repeatedly without loss of quality.Therefore, copyright protection of video data is a more important issuein digital video delivery networks than it was with analog TV broadcast.One method of copyright protection is the addition of a “watermark” tothe video signal which carries information about sender and receiver ofthe delivered video. Therefore, watermarking enables identification andtracing of different copies of video data. Applications are videodistribution over the World-Wide Web (WWW), pay-per-view videobroadcast, or labeling of video discs and video tapes. In the mentionedapplications, the video data is usually stored in compressed format.Thus, the watermark must be embedded in the compressed domain. Anapproach for robust watermarking of MPEG-2 encoded video is presented inaccordance with an alternate embodiment. The method is of much lowercomplexity than a complete decoding process followed by watermarking inthe pixel domain and re-encoding. Although an existing MPEG-2 bitstreamis partly altered, the method avoids drift by adding a driftcompensation signal. The method has been implemented and the resultsconfirm that a robust watermark can be embedded into MPEG-encoded videowhich can be used to securely transmit arbitrary binary information at adata rate of several bytes/second.

The method is easily applicable to other video coding schemes likeMPEG-1, H.261, and H.263. Digital watermarks exist at a convergencepoint where creators and publishers of digitized multimedia contentdemand localized, secured identification and authentication of thatcontent. Because existence of piracy is clearly a disincentive to thedigital distribution of copyrighted works, establishment ofresponsibility for copies and derivative copies of such works isinvaluable. In considering the various forms of multimedia content,whether “master,” stereo, NTSC video, audio tape or compact disc,tolerance of quality degradation will vary with individuals and affectthe underlying commercial and aesthetic value of the content.

It is desirable to tie copyrights, ownership rights, purchaserinformation or some combination of these and related data to the contentin such a manner that the content must undergo damage, and therefore areduction in value, with subsequent, unauthorized distribution of thecontent, whether it be commercial or otherwise. Legal recognition andattitude shifts, which recognize the importance of digital watermarks asa necessary component of commercially distributed content (audio, video,game, etc.), will further the development of acceptable parameters forthe exchange of such content by the various parties engaged in thecommercial distribution of digital content.

These parties may include artists, engineers, studios, Internet accessproviders, publishers, agents, on-line service providers, aggregators ofcontent for various forms of delivery, on-line retailers, individualsand parties that participate in the transfer of funds to arbitrate theactual delivery of content to intended parties. Since thecharacteristics of digital recordings vary widely, it is a worth whilegoal to provide tools to describe an optimized envelope of parametersfor inserting, protecting and detecting digital watermarks in a givendigitized sample (audio, video, virtual reality, etc.) stream. Theoptimization techniques described hereinafter make unauthorized removalof digital watermarks containing these parameters a significantly costlyoperation in terms of the absolute given projected economic gain fromundetected commercial distribution. The optimization techniques, at theleast, require significant damage to the content signal, as to make theunauthorized copy commercially worthless, if the digital watermark isremoved, absent the use of extremely expensive tools. Presumably, thecommercial value of some works will dictate some level of piracy notdetectable in practice and deemed “reasonable” by rights holders giventhe overall economic return. For example, there will always be fake $100bills, LEVI jeans, and GUCCI bags given the sizes of the overall marketsand potential economic returns for pirates in these markets—as therealso will be unauthorized copies of works of music, operating systems(Windows 98, etc.), video and future multimedia goods. However, whatdifferentiates the “digital marketplace” from the physical marketplaceis the absence of any scheme that establishes responsibility and trustin the authenticity of goods. For physical products, corporations andgovernments that mark the goods and monitor manufacturing capacity andsales to estimate loss from piracy. There are also no reinforcingmechanisms, including legal, electronic, and informational campaigns tobetter educate consumers.

With the advent of digital video and digital video broadcasting, issuesof copyright protection have become more important, since theduplication of digital video does not result in the inherent decrease inquality suffered by analog video. One method of copyright protection isthe addition of a “watermark” to the video signal. The watermark is adigital code embedded in the bitstream of the digital video thattypically identifies the copyright owner. The watermark, if applied toindividual copies of the video, may also be used to identity of thereceiver of each copy. This processing identifies illegally reproducedcopies and facilitates tracing back to the receiver from which theyoriginated. For watermarking of digital video, a number of differentcharacteristics of the watermark are desirable. First, the watermarkshould be embedded in such a way that it is imperceptible or barelyperceptible to a viewer of the video. Secondly, the watermark should besuch that it cannot be removed by intentional or unintentionaloperations on the digital video bitstream or on the decoded videowithout, at the same time, degrading the perceived quality of the videoto the point of significantly reducing its commercial value (acharacteristic referred to as “robustness”). Thirdly, since the videomay be stored for broadcast in a compressed form (such as in a“video-on-demand” server), it is desirable to be able to incorporate thewatermark into the bitstream without having to decode the signal firstand to re-encode it after adding the watermark. This can be accomplishedwith the watermarking of digital still images, but the method used doesnot lend itself to digital video, due to the additional constraintswhich video signals present. Many digital video applications are“constant bit rate” applications, which do not tolerate increases in thebit rate of the transmitted bitstream. Even in those applications whichare not restricted to a constant bit rate, unnecessary increases in thebit rate should be avoided, so as to preserve the real-time decodabilityof the video signal when transmitted over a channel having a givenbandwidth. Thus, it is desirable that the addition of the watermark doesnot increase the bit rate of the video signal. Past watermarkingtechniques for digital video are limited to the watermarking ofuncompressed video data. However, since video sequences are often storedin a compressed format (thereby saving on memory space), watermarkingthe signal in a way which uniquely identifies each receiver of thesignal would require decoding of the signal, addition of the watermark,and recoding before the signal is transmitted. This clearly places asignificant time and processing burden on the task of delivering thevideo sequence.

Hologram

Information exchange and transfer over a shared transmission channelpresent a challenge to the security of sensitive information. Internetand Intranet are two examples of such a shared information transmissionchanneling which many computers are connected with one another by localor wide area communication networks. It is therefore possible for anyuser or an intruder to intercept a package of sensitive data that istransmitted over the shared channel. In particular, the internet is arapidly growing business forum and securing information transferredthrough its channels is becoming a major concern for transmittingproprietary information. Data encryption techniques can be used toincrease the security in data exchange and transfer over a sharedtransmission channel. In its simplest form, data encryption uses a “key”based on a particular algorithm to change the sequence of a package ofdata that contains a piece of confidential information (“plain text”) sothat the data is enciphered or “scrambled” into an form that appears tohave no correlation with the embedded confidential information (“ciphertext”). An unauthorized user, who does not have the knowledge of eitherthe encryption method (e.g., the encryption algorithm) or the key formedbased on the encryption method, cannot easily decode the information. Anauthorized user recovers the embedded information in the scrambled databy using a “key” that is constructed based on the encryption method.Therefore, even if the unauthorized user obtains the scrambled data, theknowledge of both of the encryption method and the particular key isneeded to decrypt the confidential information embedded therein.

One well-known encryption system is the Data Encryption Standard (DES)adapted in 1977 by the National Bureau of Standards. This is asecret-key crypto system to exploit confusion and diffusion techniques,allowing acceptable security using key lengths as short as 64. Thenumber of keys in crypto systems based on the DES can be as many as 512keys with the current computational power. However, increased keylengths “cost” significant delays in transmitting and receiving theencoded information. Two main kinds of crypto systems are a symmetricalsystem, i.e., the private key system, and an asymmetrical system, i.e.,the public-private key system. The DES symmetric crypto systemstypically encrypt 64 bit blocks of plain text using a key length of 56bits. The fundamental building blocking DES (referred to as a round) isa single combination of a substitution followed by a permutation of thetext, based on the key.

The plain text is encoded through 16 rounds of a function, which usuallyimplement substitution, permutation, XOR and shift operations on subsetsof the text and the key in such a way that every bit of the cipher textdepends on every bit of the plain text and every bit of the key. Thismeans that if a single bit of the cipher text is corrupted duringtransmission, the entire message may be lost. This is another weaknessof DES-type block ciphers. In each round, a different subset of theelements from the key, Ki, are used to perform the encryption (hence K1is applied during the first round, and Ki is applied during theithround, etc.). An analogous algorithm is used to decrypt the ciphertext, but the keys are now applied in reverse order, and the shiftoperations change from left to right. Given the complexity of the DESalgorithm, the speed at which DES is encrypted is a function of theprocessor characteristics for both hardware and softwareimplementations. For example, Digital Equipment Corporation makes ahardware DES chip which can encrypt and decrypt at a rate of 1 GBit/sec,or 15.6 million DES blocks per second. Software implementations areslower; for example, an IBM 3090 mainframe can encrypt 32,000 DES blocksper second.

Typical software implementation performances for microcomputers arelisted in the Table 1 herein. TABLE 1 Encryption Rates using somemicroprocessors Bus width DES Blocks Processor Speed (MHz) (bits)(per/sec) 8088 4.7 8 37068000 7.6 16 90080286 6.0 16 1,10068020 16.0 323,50068030 16.0 32 3,90080280 25.0 16 5,00068030 50.0 32 9,60068040 25.032 16,00068040 40.0 32 23,20080486 33.0 32 40,600. Another prior artcryptography system is the RSA Public Key Crypto system available fromthe RSA Data Security in California. RSA is an asymmetric crypto systemin which two different keys are used: a public key to encrypt the plaintext and a private key to decrypt the cipher text. The hardwareimplementations of RSA are usually about 1000 to 10,000 times slowerthan a hardware implementation of DES. In software implementations, RSAis generally about 100 times slower than DES. These numbers will improveas technology advances, but the processing speed of RSA will bedifficult to approach the speed of a symmetric crypto system.Consequently, RSA is generally not viewed as a replacement for DES orany other fast bulk encryption algorithm. Instead, RSA is often used forsecure key exchange without prior exchange of secrets. Hence a longmessage is encrypted with DES.

The message is sent with its DES key encrypted via RSA public keyencryption. Many other prior-art encryption systems are variations ofthe DES-type encryption. Generally, it is suspected that given theadvanced state of computational processors, DES may no longer be safeagainst a brute-force attack, so alternatives have actively been soughtsince the late 1980's. In response to this need, several alternativeshave been developed and are thought to be competitive with DES in termsof the level of security provided. Examples of these systems include thefollowing encryption methods.

(1) Triple DES. This is a variation of DES where the plain text isencrypted with the DES algorithm by three different keys in succession.This is commonly accepted to be equivalent to increasing the size of theDES key to 112 bits. Triple encryption of the plain text is the currentmethod of dealing with misgivings about DES's security, but this isclearly done at the expense of the throughput rate for encrypting anddecrypting messages.

(2) REDOC, a block algorithm which has a 20 byte (160-bit key) and thatoperates on an 80 bit block. All of the manipulations, (i.e.substitutions, permutations, and key XOR's) are performed on bytes,which makes it more efficient in software than DES whose initial andfinal permutations are difficult to efficiently implement in software.In addition, the 160 bit key usually makes this algorithm very secure.

(3) Khufu is a recently proposed 64 bit block cipher, which calls for a512-bit key, and leaves the number of rounds open (either 16, 24, or32). Because of the large key, and the potentially expanded number ofrounds, the security of this algorithm is expected to be very high.However, increasing the number of rounds has the disadvantage of slowingthe rate at which data can be encrypted.

(4) IDEA is a 64-bit block cipher that utilizes a 128 bit key. Itusually utilizes three basic operations, XOR, addition modulo 2 sup 16,and multiplication modulo 2 sup 16. The algorithm typically operates on16-bitsub-blocks, which makes it efficient, even on 16 bit processors.Its current software implementations are about as fast as DES. In viewof the limitations and disadvantages of the various prior-art encryptionsystems, the inventors of the present invention developed a new cryptosystem based on optical phase modulation and a correspondingimplementation interface between a user computer and the network. Anembodiment in accordance with the present invention can exchange any ofthese methods for enciphering information embedded in a digital bitstream prior to digitization and transmission over a shared network suchas the internet.

A holographic de-scrambler can be used at the receiving end inaccordance with a preferred embodiment by an authorized user to decipherthe information. One of many advantages of the present invention is thepotential to achieve high rate of encryption/decryption (e.g., largerthan 1 Gbit/s) as optical fiber networks of high data rates (e.g.,larger than 2.4 Gbit/s) become more common. In one of several preferredembodiments of the present invention, a package of digital data is firstimprinted on a carrier light beam. This is done by using atwo-dimensional spatial light modulator. The phase of the data-bearingoptical waveform is subsequently distorted by a phase-scrambling medium.Next, the data-bearing optical waveform with distorted phase is used toform an optical hologram with a reference beam. The hologram is thenconverted into electronic signals which are sent to its destination indigital form over a shared transmission channel. At the destinationwhere the scrambled data is received, the hologram is displayed in aspatial light modulator and a conjugate reconstruction thereof isperformed to generate a conjugate of the data-bearing signal waveformwith distorted phase. A holographic medium having information indicativeof the phase-scrambling medium is used to unscramble the phase and theembedded data is retrieved from the conjugate reconstruction opticalwaveform by using a light detector array such as a CCD array. One aspectof the present invention is to achieve optical encryption keys up to andgreater than 10 sup 6 keys to enhance the security.

This is a difficult implementation for many prior art systems. Such alarge number of encryption keys is possible because of the uniqueoptical analog technique in accordance with the present invention. It isanother aspect of the present invention to insure fast enciphering anddeciphering of a large encryption key that are rarely obtainable withthe prior-art systems. The preferred embodiments implement this by usingthe high-speed optical reconstruction of a data-bearing hologram and thecapability of parallel processing of optical data processing devices. Itis yet another aspect of the present invention to increase theconfidentiality of the encryption schemes by using unconventionalanalog-based enciphering and deciphering of digital data. This aspect isparticularly advantageous in view of the current lack of a theoreticalfoundation for decrypting analog-based encryption. A brute forceattacked encryption based on algorithm techniques is nearly impossiblefor invading the cryptography systems in accordance with the presentinvention. It is yet another aspect of the present invention to useoptical phase information in a nonobvious way to encipher and decipherdigital data. It is yet another aspect of the present invention thatoptical holographic techniques are used in both enciphering anddeciphering processes to further enhance the confidentiality of theencryption systems in accordance with the present invention. It is yetanother aspect of the present invention that the phase conjugatereconstruction of data-bearing holograms are implemented in preferredembodiments to ensure the high fidelity of the analog decipheringprocess. It is yet another aspect of the present invention to integrateoptical processing technology, hardware encryption, opto-electronicinterfacing, and high-fidelity and fast-speed digital signaltransmission to form a highly secure, fast and versatile encryptionsystem that works independent of the transmission media utilized. It isstill another aspect of the present invention to complete the encryptionor decryption process in a single step, instead of the 16 rounds ofcomplex computations typically found in most symmetric encryptionschemes. In the optical encryption systems in accordance with thepresent invention, the encrypting speed is usually not limited by thesize of the encryption key, but rather by the system speed in convertingbetween the electronic-to-optical and the optical-to-electronicinformation modes.

Other Serialization

In the past, merchants have unsuccessfully employed various methods inan attempt to track and identify their inventory. Engraving, stamping,painting, and marking are several methods that merchants have employed.Due to practical problems, those methods are not effectively applicableto the CD multimedia rental industry.

As is known in the art and industry of compact disc multimedia,graphical information identifing the program title and author of arecording is ordinarily placed on the top surface of a CD. Digital datais stored on or just below that top surface. In particular, digital datais stored immediately below such graphical information between the topsurface and the bottom surface of the CD. The bottom surface of the CDis comprised of a section of clear material through which, in accessingthe data, a laser beam from a compact disc player radiates upward.

The digital data is delicate and can easily be damaged during processestypically used to identify merchandise, which include engraving,stamping, or marking. As stated above, the digital data is closer to thetop surface of the CD than it is to the bottom surface. Although the topsurface of a CD usually contains graphical information applied by silkscreening that partially protects the digital data from damage, the silkscreened layer is thinner and more fragile than the bottom surface of aCD which comprises clear material. Thus, there is a greater need toprotect the top surface of the CD and the digital data close to it fromphysical damage such as scratching.

Engraving may be used to identify merchandise. Engraving CDs withidentification markings is problematic since engraving is oftenattempted on the top surface of the CD and such engraving couldinterfere with the digital data next to it. Moreover, even if engravingis attempted on the bottom surface of a CD where it is less likely thatdigital data will be damaged, the data may still be damaged duringengraving due to the pressure required to be placed on the top of the CDto hold it in place and the heat that may result from such engraving. Inaddition, engraving may be undesirable since it is a relatively laborintensive and costly process, especially in high volume situations.

Thus, merchants have considered other less invasive methods ofidentification such as, for example, painting. Painting also fails toprovide an effective means of identification or security due to thelabor required, the cost required, and the inherent unreliability of theprocess given the ease with which a person can duplicate such painting.Moreover, painting may pose other problems since harm to the digitaldata must be avoided.

Still another option of identifying and securing inventory is the use ofordinary adhesive stickers. Such stickers do not provide an effectivemeans of identification due to the ease with which such stickers can beremoved and reaffixed to similar looking items without a means ofclearly indicating any tampering with the sticker. In addition, suchstickers may be difficult to manually apply to CDs (since any stickershould be precisely centered on the CD) in the absence of an applicatorworkstation such as the one disclosed herein. In addition, such stickersmay be easy to duplicate.

Magnetic-type EAS systems are widely used to inhibit the theft ofmerchandise such as clothing, books, cassettes and compact disks.Electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems are often used to preventunauthorized removal of articles from a protected area, such as alibrary or retail store. An EAS system usually includes an interrogationzone or corridor located near the exit of the protected area and markersor tags attached to the articles to be protected. EAS systems have beenbased on magnetic, RF, microwave and magneto-restrictive technologies.Regardless of the particular technology involved, the EAS systems aredesigned such that the tag will produce some characteristic responsewhen exposed to an interrogating signal in the corridor. Detection ofthis characteristic response indicates the presence of a sensitized tagin the corridor. The EAS system then initiates some appropriate securityaction, such as sounding an audible alarm, locking an exit gate, etc. Toallow authorized removal of articles from the protected area, tags thatare either permanently or reversibly deactivatable (i.e., dual statustags) are often used.

Although EAS markers have been in common use for the theft protection ofoptically recorded media such as compact disks and CD-ROM's, the markershave generally been adapted for attachment to the packages containingnew compact disks and have been poorly suited for direct attachment tothe compact disk itself for libraries and other institutions thatrepeatedly check compact disks in and out to accommodate the needs ofcustomers and clients, effective inventory control would prefer that EASmarkers are attached to the compact disk.

Some markers for direct attachment to compact disks have been developed.One, available as “DCD-1” from Minnesota Mining and ManufacturingCompany, St. Paul, Minn., is a single marker strip and security overlaywhich are attached to a compact disk. However, this marker adverselyeffects the mechanical balance of the disk, which can adversely affectthe operation of modern high rotation speed CD-ROM drives, CD players,and other optically recorded media playback equipment which require thatthe media be mechanically balanced for proper operation. Anotherproduct, “CD-Guard”, available from Knogo North America, Inc.,Hauppauge, Long Island, N.Y., suffers the same mechanical balancedrawback. An optical information storage disk comprising an embedded,generally annular, dual-status EAS marker is described in coassignedU.S. Pat. No. 5,347,508.

Other Media

It should be noted that the principles of the present invention may beapplied to other types of media beyond the portable storage mediumdiscussed hereinabove. As a disk-like recording medium (referred tohereinafter as an optical disk) on and from which an information signalis recorded and reproduced by laser beam, there are now commerciallyavailable a so-called compact disc with audio data recorded therein, aCD-ROM in which computer data is recorded, a write once optical disk onwhich an information signal can be recorded once and a recordableoptical disk in which an information signal can be reproduced, recordedand erased.

The read-only optical disk such as a compact disc or CD-ROM has trackson which irregular patterns, i.e., phase pits are concentrically orspirally formed on the basis of a recorded information signal formed onone surface thereof. Specifically, the read-only optical disk iscomposed of a disk base plate made of a transparent synthetic resin suchas polycarbonate or PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate), a reflection filmmade of a metal such as Al or Au formed so as to cover phase pits formedon one surface of the disk base plate and a protection layer formed soas to cover the reflection film in order to protect the reflection film.

When an information signal is reproduced from the read-only opticaldisk, laser beam from a laser light source is converged by an objectivelens and irradiated on the read-only optical disk from the disk baseplate side. Reflected light flux modulated by the phase pits on theoptical disk is detected by a photodetector, for example, and convertedinto a detected signal having a signal level corresponding to anintensity of reflected light flux, thereby allowing a reproduced signalof the information signal recorded on the read-only optical disk to beobtained.

While the read-only optical disk can provide mass-produced products(optical disks) inexpensively on the market, it is not suitable forproducts of small demand. For this end, write once optical disks areprepared for optical disk products of small demand and a variety of datacan be provided to the user easily. As write once optical disks, thereare available a write once optical disk of recording system usingphysical chemical change of pigment, a write once optical disk of asingle layer hole forming recording system, a write once optical disk ofmulti-layer hole forming recording system, a write once optical disk ofphase-change recording system and a write once optical disk ofbubble-foaming system. Upon reproduction, in a manner similar to theread-only optical disk, a laser beam (having a weak reproduction laserpower) from a laser light source is irradiated on the disk from the diskbase plate side under the condition that the laser beam is converged byan objective lens. Then, reflected light flux that is modulated bypreviously-recorded pits is detected by a photodetector and the detectedsignal is converted into a detected signal having a signal levelcorresponding to an intensity of a reflected light bundle, therebyobtaining a reproduced signal of an information signal recorded on thewrite once optical disk.

When an information signal is recorded on the above write once opticaldisk, a laser beam (having a strong recording laser power) from a laserlight source is irradiated on the optical disk from the disk base plateside under the condition that the laser beam is converged by anobjective lens. Then, the power of the laser beam is turned on and offby modulating the laser beam in response to an information signal andpits (pits substantially similar to those recorded on the read-onlyoptical disk) corresponding to the information signal are formed alongrecording tracks of the optical disk. Specifically, in the case of thesingle layer hole forming recording system, a hole is formed on therecording track at an area irradiated with a strong laser beam and thishole is recorded as a pit. In the case of a multi-layer hole formingrecording system, a hole is formed on the recording track at an areairradiated with a strong laser beam, e.g., the film of the first layerand the hole on the first layer are recorded as a pit.

In the case of the phase change recording system, a portion of therecording track irradiated with a strong laser beam is changed from theamorphous state to the crystal state and the portion that was changed tothe crystal state is recorded as a pit. In the case of the bubblefoaming recording system, of the recording tracks, a recording layer ofthe portion irradiated with a strong laser beam is upheaved and theupheaved portion is recorded as a pit.

In the write once optical disk, in particular, a guide groove is formed(pre-groove portion) to allow tracking control of laser beam. An endface opposing the pre-groove is formed as a sine wave shape (generallyreferred to as a wobble shape) having a predetermined amplitude and apredetermined period along the track. When this wobble shape isoptically detected by laser beam, it is possible to obtain a wobblesignal serving as absolute time information. The wobble signal is usedto control the system of the recording and reproducing apparatus and, inparticular, the timing information for recording pits on the opticaldisk. Further, the wobble signal is used to servo-control an opticaldisk rotating and driving means, e.g., a spindle motor. According to theservo control operation, the rotational speed of the spindle motor iscontrolled such that the period of the wobble signal becomes constant.

The above write once optical disk is generally of a groove recording 10system where pits are recorded on the pre-groove portion. Wheninformation data that is to be recorded on the write once optical diskis recorded, a target position is synchronously searched based on theperiod of the wobble signal obtained by optically detecting the wobbleshape formed on the pre-groove portion. When the target position isdetected, the above information data that is to be recorded on the writeonce optical disk is recorded on the target position according to apredetermined format.

On the other hand, upon reproduction, a target position is searched asdescribed above. When the target position is detected, based on a framesynchronizing signal inserted into the data to be recorded on the writeonce optical disk, 2 kilobytes of data, for example, are sequentiallyread out, thereby reproducing recorded data.

Since the read-only optical disk and the write once optical disk are thesame in reproduction principle as described above, even when the writeonce optical disk is loaded onto a reproducing apparatus whichreproduces an information signal from the read-only optical disk, datarecorded on the write once optical disk can be reproduced withoutdistinction of the read-only optical disk.

In addition, the write once optical disk has a feature that allows anumber of optical disks to be easily produced by relatively simpleequipment. For this reason, there is the risk that the write onceoptical disk will be illegally copied (illegal copy). Specifically,initially, there is a computer system wherein a reproducing apparatusfor reproducing an information signal from a read-only optical disk isconnected to one external input and output terminal of a personalcomputer used by the end user. For example, and an external storagedevice for recording and reproducing an information signal on and fromthe write once optical disk is connected to another external input andoutput terminal. Then, recorded data that had been read out from theread-only optical disk by the reproducing apparatus are all written inthe write once optical disk by the external storage device, therebyproducing a pirate edition of the read-only optical disk.

In this case, if the read-only optical-disk is a CD-ROM where computerdata (including computer program) are recorded, then a pirate edition ofgame software can be easily produced. If the read-only optical disk is acompact disc (CD) where music information are recorded, then it becomespossible to easily produce a pirate edition of the compact disc.

Since computer programs are copyrighted material protected by copyright,copies—except those made by the regular user, i.e., registered users whoaccepted the software license agreement (software license agreement)forbackup or copies for the hard disk are illegal.

Further, copy for thoroughly copying recorded data on the CD-ROM whichis a copyright material to the write once optical disk for the purposeof action of concession in distribution is also illegal and such illegalaction for obtaining unfair profit should be prevented.

Furthermore, an act wherein a regular user makes a free distribution forthose who are not regular users in an enterprise or CAI (ComputerAssisted Instruction) is regarded as serious.

At present, there are a variety of proposed methods for copy protectionmany of which have been reduced to practice. On the other hand, asoftware (program or the like) called “copy tool” used in removing copyprotection is now commercially available. Short of the user's ownconscience, there is currently no other way to prevent the illegalcopying of recorded data.

In view of the aforesaid, it is an object of the present invention toprovide a data recording method wherein an illegal copy betweendisk-like recording mediums can be effectively protected even against acopy tool and in which copyrighted material (recorded data) recorded onthe disk-like recording medium can be protected.

Interactive productions allow a user of a computer system to interactwith movies, video or other displayed images while the images are beingupdated at a rapid rate. The purpose of these productions is to presentuseful information, educate or entertain the user. The ultimate goal ofinteractive technology is to make the user feel as though they areinteracting with images on the screen so that, for example, charactersor objects in a drama react to the users actions. The user's actions canaffect characters, objects or other images on the display screen andchange the course of the storyline.

One method for providing a high degree of interaction is to make theproduction completely computer generated. This means that the computermodels a three dimensional world and calculates and displays theorientation of figures and objects on the screen. However, this approachis limited by today's technology because the computing power to fullycalculate and render lifelike images, especially human figures, atresolutions approaching television quality in real time at video or filmrefresh rates is beyond the current technology for mass-marketedsystems.

A different approach is to prerecord video, film or computer generatedimage sequences and play the prerecorded images, or frames, back at highspeed. This achieves the resolution of television, or better, and issufficiently lifelike to create a level of believability comparable totelevision. However, in this approach the user has a very limited amountof interactivity with the production since the user's ability to affectthe story is limited to the small number of different “paths” ofprerecorded image sequences that are branched to at predetermineddecision points in the video or animation sequence. The use of anyprerecorded sequences of images that are played back so as to achieveanimation while allowing a user to interact with the images is referredto broadly here as “interactive video.”

Interactive video productions typically use a compact disc read-onlymemory (CD-ROM) disc to store the images and a CD-ROM drive to retrieveimages during playback. The CD-ROM disc stores information in aconcentric spiral on optical media and is “read” or played back with aCD-ROM drive that uses a “read head” with a laser beam. The big problemwith CD-ROM based interactive production is the break in continuity dueto delays of about a half-second or more required to locate a desiredbranch path that is different from the current path that the drive'sread head is tracking. Another problem is that CD-ROM based interactivevideo productions are severely limited in the number and types of waysthat a user may interact with the video.

The length of time to access a different video path (“access time” or“seek time”) depends upon the location of the different video path withrespect to the current placement of the CD-ROM drive's read head. Inorder to access a given video sequence, a computer controller looks upthe location of the sequence in an index and instructs the CD-ROM driveto access the new sequence by moving the read head to the beginning ofthe new sequence on the disc. Since the read head is moved by amechanical mechanism it takes a comparatively long time to repositionthe read head to a new point on the track to access the different videopath.

The prior art uses caches to try to improve the performance of accessingdata in a CD-ROM. The cache can be in the CD-ROM drive, in an interfacecard between the processor and the drive, in the memory of the computersystem controlled by software or even on a hard disk or other storagemedium. However, these caches only provide marginal improvement inaccess times where video is concerned because of the relatively smallsizes of the caches compared to the data rate of the information comingoff of the CD-ROM. Also, when a different path is branched to theinformation in the caches is usually useless since they don't containthe new data. The caches must be “purged” and loaded with newinformation.

While current CD-ROM drives are not adequate to provide sufficientinteractivity in interactive video productions, they represent a hugeinstalled base since hundreds of thousands have already been sold toconsumers. Therefore, a system which eliminates the access time inCD-ROM based interactive videos without requiring modification ofexisting CD-ROM drives is desired.

Conventionally, a so-called LD (Laser Disk) and a so-called CD (CompactDisk) are generalized as optical disks, on which information such asvideo information, audio information and the like is recorded. On the LDor the like, the video information and the audio information arerecorded together with time information indicating a time at which eachinformation is to be reproduced with respect to a reproduction startposition, which each LD or the like has, as a standard position. Thus,other than a general normal reproduction to reproduce the recordedinformation in the order of recording, various special reproductions arepossible, such as a reproduction to extract and listen to an onlydesirable music out of a plurality of recorded musics, a reproduction tolisten to the recorded musics in a random order and so on, in case ofthe CD, for example.

However, there is a problem that, according to the above mentioned LD orthe like, a so-called interactive and variegated reproduction is notpossible in which the audience can have a plurality of selectionbranches as for the video or audio information to be displayed orsound-outputted and in which the audience can select them to watch orlisten to it. Namely, for example, in case of giving audience to aforeign movie on the LD, it is not possible to select one of languagesto be used for a subtitle (caption) displayed on the picture plane(e.g., select one of the subtitle in Japanese and the subtitle in theoriginal language) so as to display the subtitle in the selectedlanguage, or, in case of giving audience to a music recorded on the CD,it is not possible to select one of sound voices of the music (e.g.,select one of the English lyric and the Japanese lyric).

On the other hand, various proposals and developments are being made asfor the DVD, as an optical disk in which the memory capacity is improvedby about ten times without changing the size of the optical disk itselfas compared with the aforementioned conventional CD. With respect tothis DVD, if a plurality of subtitles in various languages or aplurality of voice sounds in various languages are recorded, the abovementioned interactive and variegated reproduction is possible as theaudience selects one of them.

However, the information amount of the audio information or musicinformation becomes enormous if the audio or voice sounds in variouslanguages or the music in various types are recorded on theabove-mentioned DVD. At this time, if the information is not recorded inan appropriate recording form, the process for searching the audioinformation etc. to be reproduced becomes complicated, and a case wherethe audio sound or music sound etc. is interrupted in the middle of thereproduction due to the time required to search the audio informationetc. may happen at the time of reproduction, which is a problem.

It should be noted that the process operations used in the examples andfigures above exemplify only a few implementations of the presentinvention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other processoperations can accomplish the design goals of the present invention. Forexample, analogies may be drawn to digital entertainment systems.Likewise, alternative logic can be used to implement the presentinvention.

It should also be noted that all of the above embodiments pertain tomultiple platforms or machines including, but not limited to computers,set-top boxes, DVD consumer players, cable boxes, and satellitereceivers.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of a preferred embodiment shouldnot be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, butshould be defined only in accordance with the following claims and theirequivalents.

1. A system for use in updating multimedia content, comprising: meansfor receiving a request from a content player from over a communicationnetwork requesting updated content for use with a portable storagemedium being accessed by the content player, wherein the requestcomprises information from the content player; means for determiningwhether updated content associated with the portable storage medium isavailable; and means for initiating a communication over thecommunication network of updated content associated with the portablestorage medium to the content player in response to determining that theupdated content is available, where the updated content comprisesupdated multimedia content to be played back through the content playerin place of a portion of multimedia content recorded on the portablestorage medium.
 2. The system of claim 1, further comprising: means foridentifying prior updated content forwarded, prior to receiving thecurrent request from the content player, to the content player andstored on a separate storage medium of the content player; means fordetermining whether the prior updated content is a latest version ofupdated content; and means for activating, when it is determined thatthe prior updated content is not the latest version of updated content,the means for initiating the communication over the communicationnetwork of the updated content associated with the portable storagemedium.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein said updated content comprisesa subpicture.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein said updated contentcomprises a menu to be displayed in place of another menu recorded onthe portable storage medium.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein saidupdated content sent comprises an advertisement to be displayed incooperation with multimedia content recorded on the portable storagemedium.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein said updated content comprisesa control structure.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the updatedcontent comprises three dimensional (3-D) content.
 8. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the updated content comprises a difference file.
 9. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising: means for compressing contentthat compresses the updated content prior to communicating the updatedcontent.
 10. The system of claim 1, further comprising: means forencrypting content that encrypts the updated content prior tocommunicating the updated content.
 11. The system of claim 1, whereinmeans for initiating the communication of the updated content initiatesthe communication of the updated content at predetermined timeintervals.
 12. The system of claim 1, further comprising: means forextracting from the received information of the request a currentplayback location of content from the portable storage medium beingplayed back through the content player.
 13. The system of claim 1,wherein the updated content comprises an executable.
 14. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the means for determining whether updated contentassociated with the portable storage medium is available comprises meansfor accessing a database identifying updated content.
 15. The system ofclaim 1, further comprising: means for identifying at least a portion ofa user profile, such that the means for determining whether updatedcontent associated with the portable storage medium is availableutilizes the at least the portion of the identified user profile indetermining whether updated content associated with the portable storagemedium is available.
 16. The system of claim 1, further comprising:means for identifying a user of the content player such that the meansfor determining whether updated content associated with the portablestorage medium is available utilizes the identity of the user indetermining whether updated content associated with the portable storagemedium is available.
 17. The system of claim 1, further comprising:means for determining a player version of the content player such thatthe means for determining whether updated content associated with theportable storage medium is available utilizes the player version indetermining whether updated content associated with the portable storagemedium is available.
 18. The system of claim 1, further comprising:means for determining a content player identifier such that the meansfor determining whether updated content associated with the portablestorage medium is available utilizes the content player identifier indetermining whether updated content associated with the portable storagemedium is available.
 19. The system of claim 1, further comprises: meansfor determining a demographic of the content player such that the meansfor determining whether updated content associated with the portablestorage medium is available utilizes the demographic in determiningwhether updated content associated with the portable storage medium isavailable.
 20. The system of claim 1, further comprising: means fordetermining a date such that the means for determining whether updatedcontent associated with the portable storage medium is availableutilizes the determined date in determining whether updated contentassociated with the portable storage medium is available.
 21. The systemof claim 1, further comprising: means for determining a content versionof the content stored on the portable storage medium and being playedback through the content player such that the means for determiningwhether updated content associated with the portable storage medium isavailable utilizes the determined content version in determining whetherupdated content associated with the portable storage medium isavailable.
 22. The system of claim 1, further comprising: means fordetermining a content identifier of the content stored on the portablestorage medium and being played back through the content player suchthat the means for determining whether updated content associated withthe portable storage medium is available utilizes the determined contentidentifier in determining whether updated content associated with theportable storage medium is available.
 23. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising: means for determining distribution channels to communicatethe update content such that the means for determining whether updatedcontent associated with the portable storage medium is availableutilizes the determined distribution channels in determining whetherupdated content associated with the portable storage medium isavailable.
 24. The system of claim 1, further comprising: means fordetermining a content owner of the content stored on the portablestorage medium such that the means for determining whether updatedcontent associated with the portable storage medium is availableutilizes the determined content owner in determining whether updatedcontent associated with the portable storage medium is available. 25.The system of claim 1, wherein the content player is a computer.
 26. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising: means for determining a source ofthe information in the request as to whether the information in therequest is from the portable storage medium or a cache of the contentplayer such that the means for determining whether updated contentassociated with the portable storage medium is available utilizes thedetermined source of the information in determining whether updatedcontent associated with the portable storage medium is available. 27.The system of claim 1, wherein the portable storage media is an opticaldisc.
 28. A method for use in updating multimedia content, comprising:receiving a request from a content player from over a communicationnetwork requesting updated content for use with a portable storagemedium being accessed by the content player, wherein the requestcomprises information from the content player; determining whetherupdated content associated with the portable storage medium isavailable; and initiating a communication over the communication networkof updated content associated with the portable storage medium to thecontent player in response to a determination that the updated contentis available, where the updated content comprises updated multimediacontent to be played back through the content player in place of aportion of multimedia content recorded on the portable storage medium.29. The system of claim 28, further comprising: determining whether anactive connection with the communication network is available;implementing, when it is determined that an active connection with thecommunication network is available, the initiating the communicationover the communication network of the updated content associated withthe portable storage medium; determining, when it is determined that anactive connection with the communication network is not available,whether a separate storage medium of the content player has recordedthereon a previously received updated content comprising multimediacontent to be played back through the content player in place of theportion of content recorded on the portable storage medium; andinitiating playback, when it is determined that the separate storagemedium of the content player has recorded thereon the previouslyreceived updated content, of the previously received updated content inplace of the portion of the content recorded on the portable storagemedium.
 30. The method of claim 28, wherein said updated contentcomprises at least one of a subtitle, subpicture, a menu, anadvertisement, three dimensional content, a difference file, a controlstructure, multimedia content, and an executable.
 31. The method ofclaim 28, wherein initiating the communication of the updated contentcomprises initiating the communication of the updated content atpredetermined time intervals.
 32. The method of claim 28, furthercomprising: extracting from the received information of the request acurrent playback location of content of the portable storage mediumbeing played back through the content player.
 33. The method of claim28, further comprising: identifying at least one of a portion of a userprofile, and a user of the content player such that the determiningwhether updated content associated with the portable storage medium isavailable utilizes at least one of the portion of the identified userprofile and the identity of the user in determining whether updatedcontent associated with the portable storage medium is available. 34.The method of claim 28, further comprising: determining at least one ofa player version of the content player, a content player identifier, ademographic, a date, a content version of the content being played backthrough the content player, a content identifier, distribution channelsto communicate the update content, a content owner, and a source of theinformation in the request as to whether the information in the requestis from the portable storage medium or a cache of the content playersuch that the determining whether updated content associated with theportable storage medium is available utilizes at least one of the playerversion, the content player identifier, the demographic, the determineddate, the determined content version, the determined content identifier,the determined distribution channels, the determined content owner, andthe determined source of the information in determining whether updatedcontent associated with the portable storage medium is available.
 35. Acomputer readable portable storage medium, comprising: multimediacontent; code to determine whether updated multimedia content of themultimedia content is available on a separate storage medium in responseto reading the multimedia content at a local machine; code to displaythe updated multimedia content of the multimedia content received fromthe separate storage medium when it is determined that the updatedmultimedia content is available on the separate storage medium; and codeto display the multimedia content retrieved from the portable storagemedium when it is determined that the updated multimedia content is notavailable on the separate storage medium.
 36. The system of claim 35,further comprising: code to determine whether an active connection withthe communication network is available; code to implement, when it isdetermined that an active connection with the communication network isavailable, the means for initiating the communication over thecommunication network of the updated content associated with theportable storage medium; code to determine, when it is determined thatan active connection with the communication network is not available,whether a separate storage medium of the content player has recordedthereon a previously received updated content comprising multimediacontent to be played back through the content player in place of theportion of content recorded on the portable storage medium; and code toinitiate playback, when it is determined that the separate storagemedium of the content player has recorded thereon the previouslyreceived updated content, of the previously received updated content inplace of the portion of the content recorded on the portable storagemedium.
 37. The portable storage medium of claim 35, further comprising:code to determine whether a network connection is active; code toestablish a connection in response to determining that a networkconnection is not active; code to generate a request for the additionalcontent associated with the multimedia content; and code to communicatethe request for the additional content over the network.
 38. Theportable storage medium of claim 37, further comprising: one or morecodes to locate a user profile, to identify a user, to determine acurrent playback location of the multimedia content, to determine aversion of a content player accessing the multimedia, to determine anidentifier of the content player accessing the multimedia, to determinea date, to determine a version of the multimedia content, to determinean identifier of the multimedia content, and to determine an owner ofthe multimedia content.
 39. The portable storage medium of claim 37,further comprising: code to determine a unique identifier of theportable storage medium, such that the code to generate the requestincorporates the unique identifier into the request.
 40. The portablestorage medium of claim 35, further comprising: code to determinewhether the separate storage medium is a remote storage medium; code todetermine whether additional updated multimedia content of themultimedia content is stored on a local storage medium; code to comparethe updated multimedia content stored on the separate storage medium tothe additional updated multimedia content stored on local storage mediumin response to determining that there is the additional updatedmultimedia content stored on the local storage medium and the separatestorage medium is a remote storage medium, such that said code todisplay further causes to be displayed one of the multimedia content,the additional updated multimedia content stored on the local storagemedium, and the updated multimedia content stored on the remote separatestorage medium in response to a comparison performed in response to thecode to compare.